It turns out that his response wasn't spontaneous. It was a carefully orchestrated, professional campaign designed to call attention to the racism that has plagued Spanish soccer for years.

According to the Spanish newspaper AS, Alves and his teammate Neymar consulted with a Brazilian advertising agency called Loducca after Neymar was racially abused with monkey chants in a game against Espanyol on March 29.

The plan was for Neymar, one of the most famous players in the world, to eat a banana on camera in the middle of a game the next time a racist fan threw one at him — prompting an anti-racism campaign that would spread throughout the soccer world.

Four weeks later, this plan went down exactly how they drew it up when a banana landed on the field at the Barcelona-Villarreal match.